Welcome to Ability Store

Chapter 135 - 134: After the Catastrophe

Lin Qing returned to the main store and found Chen Xuan daydreaming again.

He sat in front of the bar, his hands folded under his chin, staring blankly ahead, looking utterly lost and concerned.

Wait a minute, lost and concerned? Lin Qing furrowed her brow, isn’t that the expression common to those newly in love? Considering how Liu Shuyue’s visits to the store have significantly decreased lately, could it be... they’re not arguing, but Chen Xuan was dumped?!

As for why it wasn’t Liu Shuyue who got dumped... well, Lin Qing found it hard to imagine Liu Shuyue being the one to confess. Ancient people... tend to be a bit reserved.

The more she thought about it, the more it seemed plausible.

Liu Shuyue would definitely be embarrassed to talk about this, so when asked if they were arguing, she’d only shake her head and deny it without revealing the real problem.

This can’t go on.

Chen Xuan experiencing a breakup isn’t the problem; the important thing is the store can’t lose Liu Shuyue. Lin Qing still counts on arming the villagers of Hot Pepper Village to handle the impending direct attack from the Dimensional Limit Mechanism!

Lin Qing walked up to the bar, cleared her throat, "Well... someone rejecting you might not necessarily mean they don’t like you."

"Huh?" Chen Xuan looked up in confusion, realizing it was her, then lay back down, "You’re back, how did the ammo deal go?"

"Of course, he even gave us a hotel, and once the acquisition process is completed over there, he’ll hand over the gift contract, so our branch can directly open in the hotel."

"A hotel? Why?" Chen Xuan asked, surprised.

"Afraid of being eliminated, strengthening ties with the Dimensional Limit Mechanism." Lin Qing hummed a tune, "Besides, I gave them a lot of benefits, a hotel in a remote area is nothing."

Chen Xuan nodded without probing further.

This was indeed odd, usually, he would inquire about the benefits, Lin Qing thought. But now his mind is occupied with a vexing issue, leaving him no room to care for other things.

"Have you ever thought about how ancient times didn’t have the concept of confession?"

Chen Xuan looked at her suspiciously, "No, they didn’t, why?"

"So, the idea of confessing doesn’t work; you have to go through the process of proposing and offering betrothal gifts instead of just dating."

"With whom?" Chen Xuan asked, puzzled.

"Who else but Miss Liu." Lin Qing pouted, ancient people are so hesitant, Liu Shuyue is like that, and so is Chen Xuan.

"Oh... What?" Chen Xuan suddenly reacted, "What’s going on between me and her?"

"Tell me honestly, did you confess to her but get rejected?"

"No." He promptly denied it, "Why would you think that?"

Lin Qing also leaned on the bar, face-to-face with him, "Then why have you been daydreaming every day since coming back? You can’t possibly be reminiscing about Chang’an City, can you?"

"Well... it’s kind of complicated to explain."

"It’s okay, I have time, you can explain slowly."

Chen Xuan organized his thoughts, "You once said a world wouldn’t overlap with itself; but is it possible for different periods of a world to overlap with another world? Like if I go through two different intrusion points, can I go to the past and future of a world?"

Lin Qing didn’t expect him to ask such a serious question, "If we see these worlds as intertwined threads, then it may indeed show signs of multiple overlaps. But just like how the universe is vast, the worlds are quite sparse too, so the Dimensional Limit Mechanism has never recorded such erosion."

Chen Xuan slowly shook his head, "Maybe they saw it but didn’t recognize it."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you remember when I found an intrusion point in a cave on the beach of the Brittany Peninsula?"

"Of course, you even gained two weirdly disgusting abilities." Lin Qing said.

Chen Xuan hesitated for a moment and decided to reveal the key information, "The store’s app shows the descriptions of abilities, and these abilities, like Black Magic, only display the word ’Forbidden’. Furthermore, the erosion disaster in Chang’an City also seems to originate from this world."

...After the disaster, Chang’an City did not restore itself overnight.

The erosion diminished slightly yet still covered more than half of the city area. This largest city in the world became a land of curse, avoided by all. The casualties among city residents were numerous, with conservative estimates surpassing 400,000, especially those who stayed indoors; their houses were assimilated with flesh and blood, completely vanishing from this world.

Cultivators suffered heavy losses too, with an estimated death toll over a thousand. Under such circumstances, the Sect Tournament could not proceed as usual; sects across the regions needed a long time to lick their wounds.

The Immortal Alliance regarded this as an invasion war filled with provocations.

Over the past centuries, occasionally, Demon Fiends from the Grotto Heaven would emerge to wreak havoc, but never had there been such organized and purposeful destruction.

Alliance Leader Xu Quan was appointed to handle the aftermath and prepare for battle. Xu Yuanqing was also promoted from Sect elder to Vice Sect Leader. The Only I am Venerable Sect made significant contributions, rising to fame as the savior of all cultivators and leading the way.

However, none of this mattered to Chen Xuan.

He was more concerned about the world’s other side, what the sacrificial ceremony truly represented. Unfortunately, the Immortal Alliance dispatched three teams of fifteen cultivators into the center of erosion, trying to explore the enemy’s world, yet none returned.

This implies that the world on the other side is not entirely identical to the decaying world he has seen. Although the swirling radioactive dust is terrifying, it’s not instantly lethal.

Also, when sniping Fei Wuniang, he acquired a ’Guess the Coin’ ability marked as forbidden. Passing through the door she emerged from, he glimpsed a corner of the world there, resembling a standard ancient room, devoid of radiation threats or bloody fusion monsters.

No one would initially perceive them as the same world.

But is the world truly immutable?

The Earth 3000 years ago, the Earth now, and the Earth 3000 years later... The three present entirely different scenarios, perfectly reasonable.

"All forbidden abilities?" Lin Qing heard this for the first time, murmuring softly, "This is intriguing. Your store is unrestricted by intrusion points, able to go to different times of a world, a rather high-level ability. The information it provides might be extremely valuable intelligence. But why are you troubled by this?"

"If a world connects with the past and future of another world, wouldn’t it mean the future can change anytime? For example, if an intrusion point connects to the era before I was born, and the Dimensional Limit Mechanism alters it, my existence becomes uncertain."

"I thought something major happened." Lin Qing replied with a light-hearted tone, "Rest assured; when the mechanism researched erosion, scholars troubled by historical nihilism were plenty, even suicidal ones appeared. Eventually, it was found that all world history lines continue uninterrupted, with more evidence revealing these worlds, though seemingly similar, have long diverged. Especially after mastering more precise gravitational wave measurements, this point was conclusively settled."

"But you’ve also said before that multiple overlaps aren’t impossible."

"Just chalk it up to observational blind spots; indeed, the mechanism lacks related records... If you believe Fei Wuniang, Black Magic, and this erosion disaster all stem from the same world, their gravitational wave activities should be identical." Lin Qing analyzed, "After all, your experienced intrusion points don’t exceed twenty, yet three are similar from a probability perspective, it’s strikingly high. By contrast, the mechanism recorded hundreds of intrusion points later, with no two completely identical sets of data speaking for itself."

"Alright, you may have a point."

"That’s it?" Lin Qing scooted a bit closer, her nose almost at Chen Xuan’s, "Look me in the eye and say, nothing happened between you and Liu Shuyue?"

"Not at all." Chen Xuan sighed, sitting up from the bar.

"Then why hasn’t she been around much lately?"

"Because previously, she brought her disciple, so she stayed around here long." Chen Xuan explained dismissively, "Now that the Immortal Alliance’s matters are settled and Only I am Venerable Sect is disbanded, she naturally spends more energy at Hot Pepper Village, occasionally visiting as a norm."